We Used to Vacation

With Term Two officially and totally wrapped up and all my exams marked and my marks handed in ON TIME, I am now on vacation. Three days in, and let me tell you, it is a rager.

I've got two weeks before I leave for South Africa (actually only 10 days now!), and since my funds have effectively dwindled down to zero I decided to hang around in Shyorongi for this stretch, enjoying the quiet life. I figured that since one of the most delightful feelings on the planet is taking a day off work in the middle of the week, I would probably enjoy what was akin to taking ten days off work in the middle of the week.

I anticipated being pretty bored, so I'm happy to report that I really haven't been at all. Aside from all of my usual delicious diversions/time wasters (Archers, movies, long walks to nowhere, books, yoga, excessive tea) I've been listening to and taking notes on a couple of Cal classes, partly to keep my hand in (two years since university!) and partly to keep my general knowledge on the up (seven months of talking about nothing in rudimentary English and I am slightly concerned). One of them has been pretty cool, and the other has been fantastic:

HIST-7B (American History From the Civil War To the Present): This one is just pretty cool. It's a pretty standard take on modern American history, which I generally like learning about and which the professor seems to generally like speaking about. Definitely just a refresher of stuff I've been taught multiple times before though (we're barely out of the Civil War yet, so maybe my mind just has yet to be blown) and I really wish that I have access to the readings for the course to flesh it out a little. Hah! I never thought I'd pine for course readings.

ESPM-114 (Wildlife Ecology): Awesome! Here's a topic that I know virtually nothing about, but it's infinitely understandable and enjoyable if you've ever spent more than five minutes at a stretch outside. The prof is starting small, looking at individual animals and what factors define their niche, how they select their habitats, etc., and then will eventually move on to whole populations and how they interact with each other. Listening to this course has already made my long Shyorongi walks way more interesting, because now every time I see a lizard I can't help but think of how it might be thermoregulating, right this second. One lecture yesterday was going over the basics of how individual animals are inclined towards specific habitats (via genetic encoding, imprinting, and learning), and I was struck by how completely this applied to me, as an animal, in my search for a habitat. More narcissistic thoughts on this in a future post.

Other bits of media I've been taking in on vacation so far:

Requiem for a Dream: This is a movie that I wish I could erase from my consciousness, but I can't and now it's in there forever. Normally, I am more than game for disturbing drug-related movies, but the fact that this one was so wholly depressing, that it offered no light at the end of the tunnel but just continued to sink lower and lower until it eventually just gave up and died, made me want to go back in time and convince myself to give it a miss. Lots of my friends here have compared it to Trainspotting (one of my favorite movies), but I don't think they could have more opposite messages. If you like the idea of living with, and even enjoying, imperfection, watch Trainspotting. If you just want to cry/die, watch Requiem for a Dream.

The Pianist: Again, not an upper, but definitely a solid WWII movie with amazing music and an ending that's stuck in my mind and maybe even changed my actions a tiny bit over the last couple days. Also, a perspective that I've never really seen before, which seems rare nowadays for WWII.

Anna Karenina: Wonderful in every respect. Reading this book feels like sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner: every bite is a delight and you know it's not going to be over any time soon. Why does anyone ever fear Russian authors? I'm sure there are all sorts of metaphors and social commentaries and blah blah blah that I'm missing, but who cares? This is just an awesome story that's easy to read and keeps you thinking without weighing your mind down. I'm only just over a quarter of the way through, so I can't compare it to my beloved Brothers Karamazov yet, but if AK keeps on like this, it might well surpass.

Desert Island Discs with Kirsty Young: In spite of the fact that I often want to throttle the humble smuggery right out of Kirsty Young, this is a really great show that's been both introducing me to some entertaining people I'd never heard of before and giving me a nice new perspective on some that I had (the Ricky Gervais episode is glorious). It's also led me to form and constantly revise my own list of eight desert island discs in my head, just in case I become spontaneously famous and am forced onto the show with little warning. I'm ready for you, Young!

...well alright, since you asked, here is said list, in its incompletion, as it stands now:

When I Live My Dream ... David Bowie
I've Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old ... Cat Stevens
Musetta's Theme ... Puccini (La Boheme)
Strangers ... The Kinks
La Vie en Rose ... Louis Armstrong
Cello Suite 1 ... Bach
Greetings to the New Brunette ... Billy Bragg
American Tune ... Paul Simon

Still, tomorrow's gonna be another working day, and I'm trying to get some rest.

That's all, I'm trying to get some rest.